On February 4, the Hawaii House Judiciary Committee passed HB 2397, which moves the primary from the third Saturday in September to the second Saturday in August. The bill takes effect immediately on enactment.

The bill does not change the law that says petitions to qualify a new political party are due 170 days before the primary. Therefore, if the bill passes, the deadline for a new party to submit its petition would move from April 1 to February 21. There are many court precedents that say that states cannot implement earlier petition deadlines for petitions and make that change effective immediately, in the middle of campaign season.